


leave with me or i'll go with you

by aphelant



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Falling In Love, Future Fic, M/M, Soft Boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-15 13:16:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11806740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aphelant/pseuds/aphelant
Summary: "I hope you go first, I really do," Nolan slurs.Nico gently tugs the beer from Nolan's hand. "Okay, I think you've had enough."





	leave with me or i'll go with you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [catching_paper_moons](https://archiveofourown.org/users/catching_paper_moons/gifts).



> Unbetaed, so please let me know if I’ve made an egregious error. (Like spelling! I die a little inside every time I find spelling mistakes in years-old fics. D:)
> 
> Title from 'Chemistry' by Arcade Fire

 

Decades from now, when their grandkids ask how they fell in love, the story they tell will go like this:

 

****

 

"Hi, I'm Nolan," he says, smiling softly, and that's pretty much it for Nico right there.

 

****

 

No, it goes like:

 

****

 

Nolan had been skeptical at Nico’s suggestion of twice weekly Skype calls, but after just a couple of weeks he finds himself eagerly anticipating them.

Tonight he’s in his own bed at his billet’s while Nico travels by bus to Moncton, both of their view screens grainy from the dark and the distance. But he’s still able to see the way Nico's face lights up when he talks about his home. "There's nowhere like Switzerland, it's the most beautiful country in the world."

Nolan smiles but rolls his eyes. "You haven't been everywhere yet," he teases. "You don't know for sure."

"Winnipeg is more beautiful?" Nico asks, sounding genuinely curious.

"Oh, well," Nolan prevaricates. "No, probably not. But _Canada_ though? Like, what about B.C.! Or hey, Halifax, right? It's nice out East, eh?" He knows they’ve got whales and seals and a lot of ocean and sky out there, the kind of stuff postcards are made of. Surely that’s competition.

"Yes, it’s very nice here…but I think you don’t give Winnipeg enough credit," Nico argues, grin sly. "It does have its charms."

He winks at Nolan; in the self-view, Nolan's face flushes deep red.

"Um," he replies, not knowing what to say. Nico laughs at him - quietly, so as not to wake up his teammates - until Nolan disconnects the call in a fit of pique.

 

****

 

Or maybe the story is: 

 

****

 

The pre-draft party is probably ill-advised — they’ve all got to be awake and on camera in less than ten hours — but the boys from the W had already arranged the hotel room and the alcohol, and Nico wasn’t going to miss out on it, even if he is taking it slow. Nolan, on the other hand, has been drinking like he’s got something to prove.

"I hope you go first, I really do," Nolan slurs. 

Nico gently tugs the beer from Nolan's hand. "Okay, I think you've had enough."

"No, Nico, Nico, listen. You've gotta _listen_ to me, okay?" He leans into Nico's side, arm wrapping around his shoulders and pulling him closer. Nico glances around the room at the rest of the guys, but the party’s in full swing and nobody's paying them any mind.

"Okay, I'm listening," he says, but Nolan's already talking. 

"If you were, like, Vilardi, I'd be like, so pissed, you know? Like, I don't want to lose first overall to that guy, okay, fuck that. No." He clumsily touches Nico's cheek, then strokes his condensation-wet hand along Nico's jaw, making him twitch.

"But it doesn't feel like losing when it's you," Nolan whispers. The bass is loud, and some drunken yelling is picking up on the other side of the room, so Nico leans in to hear him. 

Nolan takes this as encouragement, cupping his hand around the back of Nico’s neck to keep him close. "You're so good and, like, so nice and I like you? You know? So if you go first instead of me that’s, like, good. You're good, so going second to you is good. You see?"

"You're good, too," Nico says, gently pulling Nolan's wandering hand from his skin. "You deserve to go first, too."

Nolan shakes his head, then changes his mind and nods, way, way too many times. "Yes, we both do," Nolan agrees. Then adds, mournfully, "I said you gotta _listen_." His drunken grip on Nico's fingers is awkward; his emphatic hand squeeze is painful. Nico shushes him and lifts Nolan’s hand to his mouth, presses a quick kiss to it.

"I'm listening," Nico promises. He doesn't pull back when Nolan leans in even more. Their faces are so close to each other now that Nico could probably count all of Nolan's eyelashes. 

Their foreheads press together, giving Nico a close-up view of Nolan’s drunken flush. He wonders if this is what Nolan’s red cheeks always look like, or if each blush is different.

Before he can contemplate it further, Nolan whispers, "I have to tell you something," and his gaze drops to Nico's mouth. Nico takes another quick scan of the room, but still no one's paying any attention to their dark little corner.

Swiftly, Nico turns Nolan and presses him back into the couch, shielding him as much as he can with his own body before bending down and kissing him once, twice. A third time, and by now Nolan's shaken the surprise off, opening his mouth eagerly to him.

Nico loses some time, then, enjoying all the noises Nolan makes, the sighs and the gasps and the soft way he says Nico's name when he briefly presses his teeth to Nolan's neck.

Eventually he pulls back, remembering that they're still in public. Nolan's closed eyes dreamily blink open, and when they finally focus on Nico he's blessed with the brightest smile he’s ever seen on Nolan's face.

"I knew you'd get it," Nolan says before pulling Nico back down to kiss him again.

 

****

 

No, wait, the story’s for the kids. It’s gotta stay PG, so of course where it starts is:

 

****

 

Nolan's shopping for a condo; he's sure he’s staying up this year, and even though a few teammates have offered him a room, after a season spent rubber banding between Philly and Allentown, he's honestly tired of living in other people's spaces.

Unfortunately, he hasn't liked any of the places he's seen. He calls Nico to complain about it as soon as he gets back to Ghost’s place.

"What exactly are you looking for that you haven't found?" Nico asks Nolan once he’s finished describing all of the places he isn’t buying. 

_You,_ Nolan wants to say but doesn’t. He sighs into the phone instead, looks around at what he can see of Ghost’s place from the couch, and makes up some bullshit about open concept layouts and natural light.

Nico hums thoughtfully. "Yes, I'm having similar problems here. I've looked at some places but none of them were right."

"See, you understand me," Nolan says, relieved, the 'like always' heavily implied.

"So that's why I've started looking at places in Princeton," Nico tells him. Before Nolan can ask why Princeton, Nico quietly continues, "I know it’s a bit of a drive into the city but - it's about halfway between Jersey and Philly?"

There's silence on the line as Nolan processes this. 

"Nico," he says, voice unsteady, "are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"You know I don't want to live with Hallsy anymore, but that doesn’t mean I want to live alone," Nico starts to explain, rushing through it like he's had all of his arguments planned out for days. "And ever since you said you wanted to get your own place too I've been thinking about how much I wished we lived in the same city so that we could live _together_."

Nolan's phone creaks in his hand from how hard he's gripping it. 

"And then," Nico continues, "I thought, well, why _don't_ we live in the same city? You don’t play in Dallas or Vancouver - you're in _Pennsylvania_. Like you always say, that's practically next door."

"I do always say that," Nolan agrees, and adds out shakily, "And we’re already making the drive to see each other as much as we can."

"Yes, exactly!" Nico says, excited; Nolan hears him slap his hand down on something in his enthusiasm. "The daily commute would be long, of course, but it would be shorter drives than we’ve been doing, and we could see each other a lot more." Sobering, he adds, "But I know moving in together is a big step. I understand if you want to find your own place."

"No," Nolan says quickly, then even more quickly clarifies, "I mean, no, I don't want my own place, not if I can live with _you_. Holy shit, Nico, what the fuck, of _course_ I want to live with you."

"Yeah?" Nico sounds joyously happy and self-satisfied. "Well, uh, I’ve done some research already and found some listings that look promising. If you like them, I can call my realtor to set up viewings?"

"That sounds perfect. Send me the links? They're online, right?"

"Of course," Nico says. "I'm sending them now." 

Nolan’s phone beeps with an incoming email. He puts the call on speaker so he can start clicking on them. There’s a selection of houses and condos and town homes, and he can honestly see them living in every single one of them. 

"Nico," Nolan says around the lump in his throat, "these are great. I love them. I love _you_."

"I love you, too, Schätzli" Nico says. "Let me know which ones you like the most and I’ll call her as soon as I hear from you."

"I will." Nolan opens up another of the links; this place has got a rooftop patio. It’s _amazing_. "Oh my god, this is so exciting, I can't wait."

Nolan can hear the smile in Nico’s voice when he replies. "Neither can I."

 

****

 

"Come on, Grossvati," Anna whines, each word extended dramatically. "You’re not telling the story right."

"Oh, I see!" Nico says. He winks across the room at Ben, who rolls his eyes at his father, his daughter, and in all honestly, probably his entire life. "How does the story go, then?"

"It’s s’posed to start with 'once upon a time'," Noah explains long-sufferingly. Nolan has to stifle a laugh - it wouldn’t do to for Grampa to encourage such sass.

Nico smacks his palm to his forehead, feigning forgetfulness. "Of course! How silly of me. Okay, I’ll start again." He clears his throat exaggeratedly to make the kids giggle, but his gentle gaze and soft smile are for Nolan.

"Once upon a time," Nico starts, and Nolan settles Noah in his lap to listen, "there were two boys, from different places far away from each other, who both went to the same place so they could play hockey."

"That’s Canada!" Noah yells, practically in Nolan’s ear; Anna shushes him from her spot on the other couch, tucked up under Nico’s arm.

"That’s right, they met in Canada. And everyone told them that because they were both so good at hockey that they should each want to be the winner all the time, and therefore they could not be friends. But instead," and here Nico lowers his voice to a conspiratorial tone, "they liked each other so much that they became _best_ friends, and then one day they realized that they wanted to spend their whole lives together."

"Did you ever play hockey on the same team?" Anna asks. Nolan watches as Nico’s eyes are drawn to their wall of medals, trophies and jerseys. 

"No, Liechtli. No, we did not."

He doesn’t sound too sad about it anymore, for which Nolan’s grateful. Over all their years in the NHL, they were never even on the same _All-Star_ team. Spending their careers only playing against each other rather than together is an irony that Nolan still regrets, but the opportunity was just never there. 

Of course they made do with what they had, played a lot of pond and street hockey from the same side of the makeshift red line, and even though it wasn’t at all enough, they still consider themselves lucky - having to be career-long rivals is one of the few things that hasn’t worked out for them the way they had hoped.

"Okay, kids, story’s over, time for bed," Ben says, standing up and coming to collect them. Both kids groan but go easily enough when he tugs them out of their seats.

"Good night, Grampa! Good night Grossvati!" Anna says and Noah echoes.

"Sleep tight," Nico calls after them.

Once they’ve all gone, Nolan changes seats so he can take Anna’s place under Nico’s arm.

"He’s wrong, you know," Nolan says. Nico makes an inquisitive hum. "The story’s not over. Not yet."

"You’re a sap," Nico laughs, then yelps at Nolan’s pointed elbow. "Okay, ow! You’re a sap but you’re not wrong, I guess."

Nolan scoffs. "You _guess_."

"Well, what else is there to the story then, huh?" Nico asks.

"You forgot, 'and they lived happily ever after'," Nolan tells him loftily. 

Nico sighs and gives a soft laugh. "Yes, of course. How could I forget that, it’s the most important part."

"The best part, too," Nolan says, fully expecting another chirping.

" _Every_ part was the best part," Nico argues, and wow, Nolan didn’t see that one coming.

"Now who’s the sap?" Nolan laughs, but he can’t disagree.

**Author's Note:**

> Schätzli = little treasure  
> Grossvati = grandpa  
> Liechtli = little light
> 
> 'Little light' is also how much research I did for this, ba-dum-ching! 
> 
> For instance, I have no idea if Nolan stayed with billets in Brandon or what. It’s too far from Winnipeg for him to have been staying at home, though.
> 
> I can never remember Vilardi’s name so the draft of this used a placeholder of 'the smug one', because that’s how I always remember him. (He makes me laugh, though, he’s smug but he also seems real chill, doesn’t seem to take things too seriously? IDK.)


End file.
